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📣 Some news about me: Yesterday (Wednesday) I was detained by police in Istanbul, held for 17 hours and then deported from Turkey to the UK. Told I was “a threat to public order”. In the country I lived in - and love. Journalism is not a crime. Here’s the BBC’s statement:

Because America is too blinkered and distracted to come up with a coherent Syria policy that eases sanctions, we've arrived at a situation where the post-Assad government has to import crude oil from Russia, which arrives on US-sanctioned tankers bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Pubs in Damascus’ Christian Bab Touma neighborhood closed their doors suddenly today. Two pubs said they were told not to serve alcohol & didn’t know when that would end. Most pubs there don’t have alcohol licenses because of their proximity to places of worship, one said

Syria’s new Communication Minister: I was told to cut down the length of my speech and “the secret is that I asked ChatGPT” to do it. I cannot describe what it must be like for Syrian kids, starved for tech, to hear a minister make a reference to AI. Assad’s gov still used fax.

Get to know every single new minister in the Syrian government

after 14 years, finally, an Eid morning spent on our balcony in Damascus

Syria is experiencing a general power outage, the head of the electricity company told state media, caused by a “technical fault in the electrical system.” Unclear how long it will take to fix.

Israeli airstrikes on Gov research center in Barzeh outside Damascus (thought it was thunder) + Hama military airport + Homs countryside’s T4 military airport, per Syria’s Ikhbaria Comes on the heels of reports that Sharaa and Trump are set to meet in Saudi Arabia next month

The Trump administration has approved visas for Syrian officials to enter the US for meetings in Washington and at the UN in New York, officials tell Al Arabiya English but insist the decision does not mark a shift in Washington’s policy toward Syria. english.alarabiya.net/News/united-st…

Fascinating story of Syrians catching the "gold bug" and the economy that has risen around it, by Sarah Dadouch | سارة دعدوش. People are buying up metal detectors – even children's sizes in pink and green. ft.com/content/4fbf28… via Financial Times

.Financial Times's Sarah Dadouch | سارة دعدوش on the new fever for treasure hunting in post-Assad Syria: ft.com/content/4fbf28…